“This is an absolute must see! The many paths provide plenty of opportunity to take in the local flora and fauna. The volunteers are extremely knowledgeable and ready to help with any questions and to make suggestions. We were there in time to see the cacti beginning to bloom so that was an extra plus. Also, the baby prairie dogs had just started making their appearances the week we were there (end of April).”

-Visitor from Forest, VA (via TripAdvisor)

Desert Garden

Here in our Desert Garden
you can stroll through three different levels of demonstration gardens showcasing
various species of plants that can be grown in the region. There are two water
features and quiet seating in this tranquil setting. A great spot to sit and relax
while watching the native birds come and go.

Datura wrightii

Jimson weed
(its most widespread English name) is a perennial herb 2 to 5 feet (0.60-1.5 m)
tall and up to several feet (a couple of meters) wide from a large tuberous root.
The foliage is dark green and sticky with an unpleasant odor when crushed. Big
funnelform, white flowers are 6 inches long and 3 inches wide (15 x 8 cm); they
open by dusk and emit a strong, sweet fragrance. The bloom is sporadic throughout
the warm months if soil moisture is present, but it flowers most heavily in late
summer. The spiny, golf-ball-sized fruit contains numerous disk-shaped seeds.

This
beautiful plant is a useful ornamental if there is sufficient space for its large
size and one is willing to put up with its winter disappearance below ground.
Hawkmoths pollinate the flowers and lay eggs on the foliage. The caterpillars
(called "hornworms" in this family) incorporate the plant's toxins into their
own tissues and become toxic to their potential predators.

Desert globemallow

Desert globemallow is a short-lived subshrub; many stems with slightly woody
bases arise from near ground level grow up to 3 feet (1 m) long. The stems grow
in all directions from erect to horizontal forming a hemispherical mound when
growing in the open. The triangular leaves are gray-hairy. Goblet-shaped flowers
are about ¾ of an inch (20 mm) across. Throughout most of its range the flowers
are apricot-colored to bright orange. Scattered populations with pink, lavender,
red, or white flowers comprise the variety rosacea (Parish mallow). Plants flower
profusely in spring and sparsely at other times following rains.

Desert
globemallow is common in the deserts of California and Arizona and from Utah into
Mexico.

Like the Spanish name, the O'odham name also means "sore eyes";
the name should be taken seriously. The very wet winter of 1998 produced huge
fields of globemallows 5 feet (1.5 m) tall in many desert areas. On a Desert Museum
expedition to Baja California we drove through a patch on a warm day with the
windows down. The road was so narrow that the side mirrors slapped the mallows
on both sides of the vehicle. Our resultant misery reminded us that stellate hairs
probably evolved to discourage herbivores.

Fairy
duster

This is a spreading shrub, usually about 2 feet (60 cm) tall and twice as
wide with sparse semi-evergreen foliage of small, twice-compound, leaves. One-inch
(2.5 cm) mimosoid flower heads are pale to deep pink. The plants flower profusely
in late winter and sporadically at almost any season in response to good rains.

Desert marigold grows mostly on bajadas
and in valleys throughout the northern Sonoran, southern Mohave, and northern
Chihuahuan deserts. It is one of the most common wildflowers, often abundant on
disturbed soils such as road shoulders.

This is perhaps our most consistent
showy roadside wildflower; it blooms in any season after a moderate rain. On hard
soils such as caliche, desert marigold is replaced by the somewhat similar Bahia
absinthifolia (which has no vernacular name except its genus name). The foliage
of bahia is more sparsely distributed; its stems arise from perennial underground
rhizomes that form colonies. Bahia leaves are less woolly and the flowers slightly
smaller than are those of desert marigold. Bahia's range extends into pine forests.

Soaptree yucca (Yucca elata)

The soaptree yucca has a simple or branched trunk up to 23 feet (7 m) tall.
The numerous 2-foot (0.6 m) long, thin, flexible leaves are clustered at the ends
of the stems, making the plant appear somewhat like a palm. Flowers are creamy
white, borne in a great cloud on the upper half of a stalk up to 10 feet (3 m)
tall, usually in May and June.

Soaptrees grow mainly in desert grassland
from central Arizona to west Texas and northern Mexico. The range extends into
the upper margin of Arizona Upland.

The leaves yield the major basketry
fiber for the Tohono O'odham, who know how to harvest the tender new leaves in
a way that promotes branching instead of killing the plant. The English common
name refers to another of its uses.